Belmary House Book Two (22 page)

Piper corralled her husband into sitting down, telling him that they were trying to devise a plan. Tilly was so confused. Had they been devising a plan?

“What are we doing again?” she asked.

“I’m not sure, either,” Evelyn admitted.

“We’re trying to help Liam reunite with his son, right?” Piper asked.

Ashford groaned. “Not exactly.”

“No, that’s right,” Liam said, frowning at Ashford.

Ashford ignored him, and turned to Piper. “Might Matilda borrow your telephone? She’s been desperate to speak to her family after being stuck in my time for so long.”

Three cellphones were thrust at her, and she gratefully took one. Piper showed her to a small library down the hall from the kitchen and told her to take her time.

“Don’t let them plan without me, okay?” she asked.

Piper smiled conspiratorially, and from that moment, Tilly liked her.

“I’ll start Evie off on some tangent or other. Should give you about twenty minutes? I can tell Ashford and Liam are too polite to interrupt, and Lachlan’s used to it.”

“Ashford’s not that polite,” Tilly said.

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll shut him down.”

Piper left the room and she called her mother, taking the blast of recriminations, then the barrage of disbelief as she tried to explain. Finally, she tearfully ended the call and hurried back to the kitchen, glad to have heard her mother’s voice, but not wanting to miss out on anything important.

She also needed to make sure Ashford didn’t agree to anything dangerous. It was bad enough he had to act as bait just to get to a time where he could try and fix his portal problems. She needed him to stay safe so they could face the far more dangerous Povests and rescue Kostya.

When she slid onto the bench next to Ashford, it looked like the others were deep in the middle of planning, and Piper glanced at her apologetically before continuing what she’d been saying.

“The way I see it is, you either have magic
in
 you, like me, Liam, Lord Ashford here—”

“I beg your pardon?” Ashford said. “I certainly don’t.”

Piper nodded vigorously. “You do. Loads as far as I can tell. Have you ever tried anything?” He looked disgusted and shook his head. “Well, it’s not as if I can blame you, but I definitely see it.” She pointed to Tilly, Lachlan, and Evelyn one by one. “And there are the people who have magic
on
 them. That’s you guys, and pretty much all of the villagers from living here so long. You can have stuff done to you pretty easily and might be able to wrangle a simple spell, but basically you’re just civilians.”

“Say muggles, Pipes,” Evelyn urged, and Tilly choked back a laugh.

Piper frowned at both of them. “I won’t. Anyway, if Solomon’s as powerful as you think—”

“He is,” Liam interrupted this time.

“Then I think Tilly should stay out of it. It should be you, me, and Lord Ashford.”

“Why do ye need to be part of it?” Lachlan thundered. “Haven’t you had enough of dangerous witches?”

“Well, it’s because I’ve had enough of them, that I think I can be helpful. We can contain him without harming him. Isn’t that what you want, Liam?”

Ashford grumbled and Liam was quiet for a moment before answering. “Yes. Yes, of course that’s what I want.”

“I’m going, too,” both Tilly and Lachlan said in unison.

“It’s too dangerous,” Piper said, patting her husband’s chest fondly.

“Absolutely not,” Ashford told her with a scowl. “Please listen for once, Matilda. I won’t have you near that man.”

She didn’t want to argue when everyone was waiting to continue, so she sat on her hands, but didn’t agree out loud. She caught Lachlan’s eye and felt a kinship with him, frustrated and unable to help the ones they loved. It was baloney, to be sure.

Piper handed her back the phone and urged her to call her cousin, Ashford explaining he thought Solomon must be monitoring them somehow, and would probably follow.

“What if he doesn’t?” she asked, trying to remember Dexter’s number. Things would have been a lot easier if she had her own phone.

“We’ll go to London,” Liam said.

Ashford gave him a look, as if that wasn’t what was promised, and clarified. “We’ll see Miss Saito safely back to her own time, and then decide.”

They stared at one another for a long time, and Tilly finally remembered the number, excited to speak to him until she realized she didn’t have a clue what to say.

“Just be natural,” Liam urged.

Her heart soared at hearing his voice. Her mother had already called him and he jumped right into asking her what to do. She went completely blank, and Ashford mouthed lines to her, getting contradicted by Liam.

She managed to tell them to get to Castle on Hill, but didn’t feel confident that it sounded natural. Hopefully they would chalk it up to confusion from her long journey and time away. Hopefully Solomon was monitoring Emma and would find his way up to them. She sorely wanted that whole Wodge situation laid to rest, so when she went back with Ashford, they could have at least one nemesis off their backs.

“I guess that wasn’t too bad,” Liam told her. “But we’ll need to think of a believable reason to get them here. They have to think we’re using the portal to get Miss Saito back, or Solomon will run.”

“That’s easy,” Piper said. “If she’s from our future, can you tell her she should meet me? That way, if something goes wrong, I’ll know about her and can help in that time? Does that make sense?”

“I feel we’re skating a thin line,” he sighed. “But it’s plausible.”

“Ye honestly think ye can reach him? If he comes at all?” Lachlan asked, looking skeptical.

Ashford shared much the same look and shook his head wearily, but Liam jumped in with his everlasting hopefulness.

“He’ll come.” He stared down at the table, tracing the wood grain with his finger. “I’ll be able to make things right at last.”

Evelyn packed up her children and left after Piper made her swear up and down not to come anywhere near the castle the next day. With fearful, worried eyes, she agreed. Piper and Liam put their heads together to discuss witchy logistics.

“I know it’s all in here,” she said, tapping her head. “But I don’t ever use it.”

“You’re right not to, if you can help it,” Liam said, seeming to see an opening to bring up the Povests.

He looked to Ashford, but he shook his head in a warning not to continue. Tilly thought he was right to put it off until they saw Solomon. There was no reason to make Piper think she shouldn’t be doing magic, when they needed her to do magic.

Lachlan showed them to rooms, even though Ashford protested up and down that they should go to the inn. He was shot down on the grounds that it was safer at the castle, and Dexter and Emma wouldn’t arrive until late at night or very early morning, so there was no reason they shouldn’t get some rest.

When Tilly saw the huge, cushy bed in the room they were offered, she squeezed Ashford’s hand excitedly. After all the uncomfortable inn beds and carriage travel, it would be a welcome relief to her back. He looked at her affectionately and gave in.

“Keep this with you in case your cousin tries to contact you when he arrives,” Lachlan said, handing her the phone she’d used earlier.

She smiled gratefully at the generosity of these people they’d just met, and after Lachlan made his courtly bow and left them, she flung herself onto the mattress and let all her joints and muscles relax.

“I like seeing you so happy,” Ashford said, joining her.

She knew he meant the words, even though his troubled face said otherwise. She put her head on his chest, and he felt anything but relaxed, causing a fresh bout of anxiety to bubble up in her. She pushed his hair off his brow and studied him.

“You said you didn’t have any powers,” she accused. “But Piper says she sees it.”

“She seems a lovely woman, but she’s cracked if she thinks I have anything.”

“But you recognize when there’s a hex, and you knew the Povests were on their way in Rouleney.”

“That’s because I’ve been around it my whole life.”

“Tell the truth, Ashford. You can sense the halo thing they described. You knew what Liam was talking about when he first said it.”

He sighed and pulled her closer to him, trying to kick off his boots. “Let’s get some sleep. If I have one more thought, my brain’s going to explode.”

She giggled and hopped down to help pull off the boots. “You sound like you’re from this time already.”

She knew he was avoiding her questions, but she only wanted to enjoy the short amount of time they had here, in between battling Solomon and recruiting help for Kostya.

“Can we stay a day or two, so I can see you in modern clothes?”

He groaned, but smiled at her sweetly, and her heart melted at the look in his eyes before he closed them and leaned back against the pillows.

“Of course. As long as you like.”

Solomon paced the inn room, trying to keep from breaking anything in his impatience. He needed to get back to maintaining a low profile or his desire to start over with a clean slate was going to be the end of him.

He’d never been to Castle on Hill in this time and was surprised to find it had the same strong hum that it did in centuries past. It could only mean the woman who owned the surrounding land was stronger than he suspected. Perhaps he’d been wrong in ignoring her. He sat down and clenched his hands. If he had taken care of her when he first became aware of her abilities, he wouldn’t be here right now, waiting and wondering, and relying far too much on a half-mad girl.

It was one bad decision after another lately, he silently berated himself. There was nothing for it now but to see it through or risk spending the rest of his life trapped in this hellish magical prison.

He picked up the room phone to see if he could wheedle some food service at this time, anything to distract himself from the waiting, when his own phone mercifully rang. He stared at it a moment, letting the ringtone make it to the chorus of the cheery pop song. There were so few joys in life.

“Where are you?” he asked without greeting her.

A sniffle preceded her answer. “There’s an inn here, called—”

“Yes, I’m aware. Have you arrived at last? I’m on the first floor, their interpretation of the Honeymoon Suite.”

“We just checked in,” she answered dully. “What time is it?” she asked, her voice drifting away as if she was putting the phone down. “Oh my, it’s late.”

“Are you calling me with the cousin in the room?” he snapped. Silence, in which he wanted to strangle the poor dear. “You have to answer. I can’t see you, remember?”

“Yes. No, I’m alone. Dexter went to see if anything’s open at this hour.”

He looked at his many watches, all of them reading four a.m. Nothing would be open, and he’d be back soon.

“Have you spoken with anyone yet?” he asked.

“At the airport, yes.”

He counted to ten, reminding himself she must be in great pain, and forcing his voice to sound calm. “And did you make a plan?” he ground out through his teeth.

“We’re supposed to meet them at the castle here. There’s a castle here.”

“Why? Does Ashford think you have time to sightsee in your condition?”

He could hear her breathing. Had she fallen asleep? Before he could say anything further, she answered.

“I’m sorry. Mr. Wodge? Do you have some spell to get rid of this headache?”

He tutted. “It’s all the magic making you feel so sick. Anything extra would probably kill you. Why are you going to the castle, and when?”

“Oh. I guess the woman up there is someone I should know in case I don’t get to the right time through the portal. We’re going to get a little sleep and go up there about ten.”

He held his phone away so she couldn’t hear his exhalation of rage. Did Ashford enlist the help of the American witch after all? How bold and unlike him. Perhaps he wasn’t even aware his house was working again. Nothing else made sense. The portal was clearly a lie. It was next to useless. The only time Emma would be going to through that thing was fifty years ago, and that wouldn’t be open for another three weeks. And then there was no guarantee it would recognize a person and pick them up, it was so unstable.

Ashford must mean to use her powers to get Emma back to her own time, thinking he was cleverly avoiding him by not going back to Belmary House.

“It’s madness to make you travel anymore. I’m sorry to sound so upset, but watching that man make you jump through hoops like a circus animal might be my last straw.”

He could tell she was crying now and it took her a few muffled sobs to answer. “I don’t know how much longer I can endure it. It was better on the plane, but now it’s worse than ever.”

“I’m sorry,” he said automatically. “Get some sleep, and go along with his tricks for now. You’ll tell me when they plan on coming back to the inn, won’t you?”

“Yes, sir. I will.”

Now that he had the information he need
ed, he had no intention of letting her anywhere near the castle. He smiled somewhat sadly that his time with Emma had come to an end. He no longer needed her.